I’m not sure what it is that makes me look up from the laptop and out the front window but when I do I see a blurry movement which immediately catches my attention. There’s something pinging around out there around the frothy Red Valerian flower spikes.

A sprite like this one has visited us at least once every year for the last four or five years. It’s worth tolerating the damage Valerian does to our garden walls for this enchanting sight.

The sprite’s identity is of course a magical Hummingbird Hawkmoth. The caterpillar’s foodplants are Lady’s and Hedge Bedstraw neither of which are very evident round here. The adult is a strong flyer, they migrate every northwards in Europe every spring, so this one may have come from some distance to find our flowers.